------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cooking with Weed
Introduction
It's great to eat weed. Generally, oral administration gives a longer-
lasting, more 'physical' high than does smoking. It takes more weed to
get you high when you eat, though, which means that eating is a bit more
expensive. But it's better on your lungs, and it's much easier to eat a
cookie in public than to spark a bowl. And the curative power (when
combined with a large, healthy meal at the end of the trip) on a bad
head cold or allergy attack is awesome.
The active substances in weed are soluble in fat and alcohol, but not in
water. You can just eat the stuff plain, but extracting it has the
following benefits: more digestible (better bang for your buck), better
shelf-life, easier to dose consistently, and (arguably) better taste
and versatility in cooking (though I did once have brownies where the
chef had simply put broken-up weed in them, and they were grand!).
A word on potency
I say above that it takes more weed to get you high when you're eating
it than when you're smoking it. However, it is still possible to get
extremely high by eating what you might think is a small amount of pot.
Further, the effects of eaten marijuana can take an hour to come on and
may not peak for another two hours after that, so it can be harder to
judge the dose. Keep this time frame in mind before going for seconds!
While it is practically impossible to take enough to cause serious
illness (pot is one of the safest drugs you can take in this respect,
far safer than alcohol or aspirin), it is easy to take enough to make
you quite uncomfortable (the author speaks from experience). If this
happens, just relax and wait it out. You will return to normal! (The
author has found chamomile tea and fresh air helpful). To prevent this
from happening start small, keep track of how much you are taking, and
keep tabs on your response. I include suggestions below, but everyone
is different and the potency of any natural herb is widely variable. As
with any medicine, you want to find the least amount that works. In
general, eating on an empty stomach will make the effects faster and
stronger. Note also that contrary to what you may have heard, it is
nearly impossible to sleep while high. Keep that in mind when planning
your dinner!
Flavor
There's no accounting for taste, but I find weed to be delicious. It
goes famously well with chocolate, and I've had luck with orange and
vanilla, and in garlic bread. There are surely many other combinations
waiting to be discovered, and as with all good things it should stand
quite well on its own.
Weed butter
Butter is a good, all-purpose fat. You can put medicinal butter in any
recipe that calls for butter. I've even made Rice Krispy Treats. My
favorite way of eating it, though, is on toast!
() 1/4 pound unsalted butter (usually 1 stick)
() 1 single-serving coffee bean grinder ($10 at Target)
() 1 fry pan (non-stick is good)
() 1/8th ounce of your best buds
1. Grind weed in coffee bean grinder.
2. Melt the butter in the fry pan. Low heat.
3. Stir in the ground weed and let simmer for 10-30 minutes. Use as
little heat as is necessary to keep the butter liquid.
4. Pour the contents of the fry pan into a glass, and put it in the
freezer for an hour or two. Best to use a heavy glass and/or Pyrex;
something that won't mind the temperature extremes.
5. Remove glass from freezer, turn upside-down under hot water for a
few seconds.
6. Knock butter out of the glass onto aluminum foil.
7. Weed grounds will have settled to bottom. Cut off and discard.
This is easier if the glass is tall and narrow.
8. Cut the remaining butter into 6 equal sections, wrap in foil.
9. Freeze butter -– keep forever, ready when you want.
10. A single section of butter is a healthy recreational dose.
Weed oil
You can substitute any oil or fat for the butter, above. I've tried
olive and hemp (how fitting!) oil, with good results. Ghee is
recommended by many authors. If the oil you're using is liquid at room
temperature, you can try soaking with less or no heat, and straining
out the grounds instead of freezing them out (or leave them in!).
Weed screwdrivers
This stuff is straight off the hook. While it aims to deliver a dose of
pot with only about as much alcohol as in one stiff drink, even mild
alcohol intoxication during a pot high can make some folks loopy. So
watch out.
() 4-6 ounces of 195+ proof grain alcohol (or high-proof vodka)
() 1 small coffee bean grinder
() 1 Ball or Kerr jar
() 1/8th ounce of your best buds
1. Grind the weed and put it in the jar with 6 ounces of clean, cold
water.
2. Shake very well. Let stand for a few hours or overnight.
3. Drain off water, keep weed. Press excess water out of weed. This
water rinse step removes some of the stronger flavor components of the
weed, making for a smoother finished drink.
4. Pour on alcohol. Shake well.
5. Shake morning and night for a week.
6. Pour off alcohol, discard weed.
7. Put alcohol back in jar. Should have excellent shelf life.
8. Stir 1 ounce into 8 ounces of your favorite O.J. and serve.
- Carl Lumma
Berkeley 2002
------------------------------------------------------------------------